Chennai - Kochi : Route Queries

This is a discussion on Chennai - Kochi : Route Queries within Route / Travel Queries, part of the Travelogues category; I will be doing Visakhapatnam-Kochi next week on my NHC. Vizag-Chennai is 810 km by NH5, a 4-lane GQ highway. ...

I will be doing Visakhapatnam-Kochi next week on my NHC. Vizag-Chennai is 810 km by NH5, a 4-lane GQ highway. I have done this stretch before - 12 hrs max, lunch included.

After a day's rest at Chennai, I will be doing Chennai-Kochi. This route is new to me. I gather that the ideal route would be:
Chennai-Vellore-Krishnagiri (NH46)
Krishnagiri -Salem (NH7)Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Thrissur-Kochi (NH 47).

Please advise on road conditions & lunch stop if I were to start from Chennai by 5AM.

if you start at 5 am stop at hotel river side for break fast in vellore-you will get fantastic south indian lunch at joythi bavan at perundurai were you will reach at around 2pm-take the by-pass to avoid comming inside coimbatore-take a break in walayar motels before palghat-please dont try food in any of the highway motels inside kerala(it sucks).

Sorry for the inordinate delay - didnt have net access immediately at Kochi. Thanks, sudheermenon & shailu for the info. I had a wonderful trip. The details are as follows:

Chennai (5AM) - Krishangiri(7:30AM) (245 km) was a breeze as the road is 4 lane, GQ. The only crib was when I wanted to top up my low fuel tank at Vellore at 6AM , but most highway pumps were closed/ selling "only premium petrol" (My NHC feeds only on normal unleaded petrol). I finally found unleaded fuel at Ambur, 50 km away, skipping many heartbeats.Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri (8:30AM) (47 km) stretch isn't good - single lane, potholed at places. Had breakfast at Dharmapuri Dharmapuri (9:00AM) - Salem(10:30AM) (61 km) road as sudheermenon said (I started before I could read his post), is not good at places, which are narrow and potholed. Salem - Coimbatore (1:30PM) (162 km) is single lane. Three 3 earth movers had a convoy 20 cars behind (needlessly overtaking each other), inching at snails pace for 30 min because of the oncoming traffic. Had a quick lunch at CBE.Coimbatore - Palakkad (2:30PM) (41km) was a delightful toll road (till Walayar), an the monsoon was just arriving (pedestrians were all gazing skyward!). Strong winds and delightful scenery.Palakkad - Thrissur- Aluva(4:30 PM) (110 km). Scenic green Kerala, single lane, but good road. I took it easy (speed was mostly 50 kph) as overtaking was a pain. Tea at Aluva.Aluva - Kochi (5:15PM) (20 km) The Airport- Seaport road is 4- lane & fabulous!

Chennai - Vellore - Krishangiri - Dharmapuri - Thoppur - Bhavani - Perunudurai and then onto Coimbatore you would get good 4 lane roads upto Krishnagiri, and the stretch between Krishnagiri is decent even though because of work you would have diversions. Thoppur Bhavani is a very good two lane road. After Bhavani its the same NH47 which is seeing construction work so expect a lot of diversions, am not sure about post Walayar, somebody from "Naadu" can update you.

Chennai - Vellore - Krishangiri - Dharmapuri - Thoppur - Bhavani - Perunudurai and then onto Coimbatore you would get good 4 lane roads upto Krishnagiri, and the stretch between Krishnagiri is decent even though because of work you would have diversions. Thoppur Bhavani is a very good two lane road. After Bhavani its the same NH47 which is seeing construction work so expect a lot of diversions, am not sure about post Walayar, somebody from "Naadu" can update you.

Cheers.

Thanks Srikanth. I will be at work for another couple of hours so will watch out for any further updates on this.

Chennai - Vellore - Krishangiri - Dharmapuri - Thoppur - Bhavani - Perunudurai and then onto Coimbatore you would get good 4 lane roads upto Krishnagiri, and the stretch between Krishnagiri is decent even though because of work you would have diversions. Thoppur Bhavani is a very good two lane road. After Bhavani its the same NH47 which is seeing construction work so expect a lot of diversions, am not sure about post Walayar, somebody from "Naadu" can update you.

Cheers.

Thanks again for the info Srikanth. We did take exactly the same route as suggested by you . Roads were good till Palaghat (except for the Krishnagiri-Thoppur stretch) till we took the left to go to Thrissur. This stretch of NH47 is so painful where you will go searching for good patches amidst the potholes. With KSRTC driver's driving skills on this road its purely based on your luck if you manage to get through this road without being pushed out of the road by these buses. This is one stretch to watch out for otherwise the roads inside Kerala were quite good.
We did the following routes when in Kerala. Thrissur-Guruvayur, Guruvayur-Athirampalli-Vazhachal, Vazhachal-Pazhayanur.

Yes the best route is the one you mentioned. Had travelled this stretch Krishnagiri - Kochi during first week of Aug while travelling from Hyd.

Dont even think of taking conventional route through Villupuram OR bypassing Krishnagiri through Tirupathur OR Bypassing Salem through Mettur. You may save some Kms but would waste time and fuel.

Chennai - Vellore - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Bhavani - Avinashi - The stretch till Avinashi is exceptional. 4 Lane through out. At Toppur (Dharmapuri - Salem Stretch ) you have a BP Ghar which could be used as a point to break.

Avinashi - Coimbatore - 4 Laning under progress - Majorly completed but still would have a fair share of deviations

Coimbatore Bypass - 2L but not bad at all.

Get into Kerala - Welcome to Land of Potholes. The stretch till Palakkad is Ok but Palakkad - Trissur is almost a MESS. Thanks to monsoon. Try doing this stretch during with day light.

Trissur Bypass (Mannuthy) - Kochi - This would be a pleasent surprise. its 4L bliss again.

Start early from Chennai and land in Kochi by late evening. Approximate 700Km, and is do able in a single stretch if you are used to long drives.

Yes the best route is the one you mentioned. Had travelled this stretch Krishnagiri - Kochi during first week of Aug while travelling from Hyd.

Dont even think of taking conventional route through Villupuram OR bypassing Krishnagiri through Tirupathur OR Bypassing Salem through Mettur. You may save some Kms but would waste time and fuel.

Chennai - Vellore - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Bhavani - Avinashi - The stretch till Avinashi is exceptional. 4 Lane through out. At Toppur (Dharmapuri - Salem Stretch ) you have a BP Ghar which could be used as a point to break.

Avinashi - Coimbatore - 4 Laning under progress - Majorly completed but still would have a fair share of deviations

Coimbatore Bypass - 2L but not bad at all.

Get into Kerala - Welcome to Land of Potholes. The stretch till Palakkad is Ok but Palakkad - Trissur is almost a MESS. Thanks to monsoon. Try doing this stretch during with day light.

Trissur Bypass (Mannuthy) - Kochi - This would be a pleasent surprise. its 4L bliss again.

Start early from Chennai and land in Kochi by late evening. Approximate 700Km, and is do able in a single stretch if you are used to long drives.

Cheers!

Hey @KrisSree, many thanks for the detailed route!! Certainly helps planning. I can do single stretch with breaks for meals, snacks and face wash etc. I think the key is to start early from Chennai which I will plan.

One more question: Is there anything to worry at the Walayar stretch? Traffic snarls, bad roads? etc.?

Hey @KrisSree, many thanks for the detailed route!! Certainly helps planning. I can do single stretch with breaks for meals, snacks and face wash etc. I think the key is to start early from Chennai which I will plan.

One more question: Is there anything to worry at the Walayar stretch? Traffic snarls, bad roads? etc.?

If you know you would be hitting Avinashi during the rush hours, you can try Perundurai-Kangeyam-Palldam-Pollachi-Vaddakancherry to get back on 47.
If its raining, again it would help as Avinashi may be full of slush. Good to conform with frequent travelers.

One more question: Is there anything to worry at the Walayar stretch? Traffic snarls, bad roads? etc.?

I did Coimbatore-Palakkad just two days back. Stretch between L&T Bye-pass and Walayar is in very bad state due to widening. Walayar-Palakkad is slightly better. Watchout for many killer potholes in both the stretches.